Andrei Vizanti, the First Romanian Student in Madrid (1865-1868)
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ISSN 2254-6901 | Vínculos de Historia, núm. 10 (2021) | pp. 357-370 http://dx.doi.org/10.18239/vdh_2021.10.20 On the roads of Spain: Andrei Vizanti, the first Romanian student in Madrid (1865-1868) En las carreteras de España: Andrei Vizanti, el primer estudiante rumano en Madrid (1865-1868) Iosif IULIAN ONCESCU Universitatea Valahia din Târgoviște, Rumania [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3626-5612 Fecha de recepción: 04-12-2019 Fecha de aceptación: 16-03-2020 ABSTRACT In the process of educating modern Romanian elites, especially after the Unification of the Romanian Principalities (1859), two young Romanian students journeyed to faraway Spain. Their names were Andrei Vizanti and Ștefan Vârgolici, selected as scholars from the state of Romania, in the autumn of 1864, to study at the Central University (Madrid, Spain), for a period of four years. Of the two, only Andrei Vizanti remained in the Spanish capital, while Ștefan Vârgolici, after a short stay in Madrid (in 1865), left for Paris. After three years of study (1865-1868), in June 1868, Andrei Vizanti obtained the title of Graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the Central University, becoming the only Romanian graduate of a Spanish university until the second half of the 20th century. Key words: Andrei Vizanti, Romanian student, Central University, Romanian-Spanish relationships. Toponyms: Spain, Romania. Period: 1865-1868. RESUMEN En el proceso de formación de las élites rumanas modernas, especialmente después de la Unificación de los Principados Rumanos (1859), dos de los jóvenes estudiantes rumanos llegaron a la lejana España. Es el caso de Andrei Vizanti y Ştefan Vârgolici, quienes fueron seleccionados como académicos del estado rumano en el otoño de 1864 para estudiar en la Universidad Central (Madrid, España), por un período de cuatro años. De estos, sólo Andrei Vizanti permaneció en la capital española, mientras que Ştefan Vârgolici, después de una breve parada en Madrid (en 1865), partió para París. Después de tres años de estudio (1865-1868), en junio de 1868, Andrei Vizanti obtuvo el título de Licenciado en La Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad Central, sendo el único graduado de una universidad española hasta la segunda mitad del siglo XX. 357 ON THE ROADS OF SPAIN: ANDREI VIZANTI, THE FIRST ROMANIAN STUDENT IN MADRID (1865-1868) Palabras clave: Andrei Vizanti, estudiante rumano, Universidad Central, relaciones rumano- españolas. Topónimos: España, Rumanía. Período: 1865-1868 1. INTRODUCTION Establishing universities in Romanian (Iași-1860, Bucharest-1864) did not implicitly mean the fact that these could ensure the education of the Romanian intellectual elite1. Under these circumstances, the foreign universities, especially those in Western Europe, continued even in this era to have, for a long period of time, a monopoly of the education of the autochthonous elite2. Thus, a major role in the process of the education of the Romanian intellectuals in the second half of the XIX century and even in the first half of the XX century, especially in the universities of France, Germany and Austria, was followed in the second plan by those in Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and Hungary, some of them studying in Spain, Greece or England3. In this context of the education of process of the modern Romanian elites, especially after the Unification of the Romanian Principalities (1859), two of the young studious Romanian men arrived in the faraway Spain, one of the studying there4. Although few details are known about the intention of the Romanian authorities to send scholars to Spain, all clues clearly lead to the pro-Latin vision of Vasile Alexandrescu Urechia (1834-1901) who had directly known Spain in his youth (1857), he had been married to a Spanish woman (Francisca Josephine Dominique de Plano), he had made several trips to this country (1860-1861, 1867-1868), and had, after the death of his wife, kept in 1858 close ties to the Spanish intellectuals (Alfredo Adolfo Camus, Emilio Castelar). Certainly, these personal items, invoked by some of the contemporaries themselves, had a decisive 1 L. Năstasă, Itinerarii spre lumea savantă. Tineri români din spațiul românesc la studii în străinătate (1864- 1944), Editura Limes, Cluj Napoca, 2006, pp. 66, 70. 2 Idem, “Rolul universităţilor occidentale în modernizarea şi europenizarea elitelor româneşti (1860-1918)”, in Xenopoliana, VI, nr. 1-2, Iaşi, 1998, pp. 169-170. 3 Idem, Itinerarii spre lumea savantă..., pp. 91-92; Idem, “Rolul universităţilor occidentale..., p.172; I. Oncescu, România în politica orientală a Franței (1866-1878), Second Edition, revised and enlarged, Editura Cetatea de Scaun Târgoviște, 2010, p. 273 (In this hierarchy of foreign universities, where the Romanian elite was educated, France was on the first place, being the main source for Romanian bachelors and doctors in the second half of the XIX century and the first half of the XX century). 4 D. Berindei, “Spania în viziunea lui Mihail Kogălniceanu şi V. A. Urechia” in vol. Modernitate şi trezire naţională. Cultura naţională modernă. Studii şi eseuri, Editura Fundaţiei PRO, Bucureşti, 2003, pp. 230-231. Briefly, on the Spanish case (Hispanic Attempts) see L. Năstasă, Itinerarii spre lumea savantă..., pp. 315- 317. In the context of the ensemble of the history of the relationships between Romania and Spain, the direct contacts and convergences between the two countries had a great importance. But, in the first half of the XIX century, few Romanian travellers who passed through the territories of Europe from various reasons (economical and political, the desire to educate themselves and to learn abroad, the contact with other cultures and traditions) arrived in the Hispanic Peninsula. Thus, in 1846-1847, Spain would be directly acknowledged by historian Mihail Kogălniceanu (1817-1891) and ten years later, in 1857, by historian Vasile Alexandrescu Urechia who later made several visits in this country. Between the years 1865-1868, after obtaining a grant from University of Iași (1864) through the support of his mentor, V. A. Urechia, Andrei Vizanti studied in the capital of Spain within the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the Central University - today Complutense University of Madrid (I. Oncescu, “Cunoaștere și descoperire: Spania în viziunea lui Mihail Kogălniceanu (1846-1847)”, in Ș. Ștefănescu, C. Neagoe (eds.), Cultură, Istorie și Societate, VI, Editura Ars Docendi, București, 2017, pp. 327- 329). 358 | Vínculos de Historia, núm. 10 (2021) IOSIF IULIAN ONCESCU role in sending young men to study in Spain but, besides this, professor Vasile Alexandrescu Urechia had correctly noticed the necessity of having good knowledge of Spanish language and literature in the Romanian academic environment. Under these circumstances, starting with 1859, when he became director of the Ministry of Public Instruction in Moldova, V. A. Urechia has campaigned for sending Romanian students to study abroad, especially in neo- Latin countries. Until 1864, no Romanian student had been sent to study in Spain, so there was no precedent in this respect. Perhaps the distance between the two countries was a factor, in addition to not knowing the Spanish education system, the lack of such initiatives. Thus, in the autumn of the year 1864, two of the students of Iași University, Andrei Vizanti and Ștefan Vârgolici were selected as scholars of Romania to study in the Central University (Madrid, Spain), for a period of four years. Out of the two, only Andrei Vizanti would become a bachelor of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, after three years of study in the capital of Spain (1865-1868) while Ștefan Vârgolici, after a short stay in Madrid (in 1865), he went to Paris, where he continued his studies5. 2. ANDREI VIZANTI. A FEW BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS AND THE MEANDERS OF DESTINY (1844-?) Andrei Vizanti was born in Iasi, Moldova, on May 4, 1844. He came from a Greek family, his father, Andrei (Andricu) Vizanti, was brought to Moldova by Metropolitan Veniamin Costache being, according to some sources, a teacher of mathematics and religious music in Iași and after 1827 he worked in the Moldavian Metropolitan Church. Later he was an engineer and the Moldavian ruler Mihail Sturdza (1834-1849) awarded him small boyar’s ranks. Young Andrei Vizanti studied at the Central Gymnasium in Iasi where he was colleague with Ştefan G. Vârgolici. Later, in the years 1863-1864, Andrei Vizanti would become colleague with the same Ștefan Vârgolici at Iași and together with him he would obtain a grant to study abroad for Madrid —the autumn of 1864). Andrei Vizanti studied, as scholar, in the period 1865-1868, at the Central University in Madrid becoming bachelor of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters in 1868. In parallel with his studies, when he was in Spain, he developed an intense journalistic activity in Romania, but also in Spain (Buletinul Instrucțiunii Publice, Convorbiri Literare, Românul, La Reforma, La Enseñanza). After returning in Romanian, with the help of his mentor Vasile Alexandrescu Urechia (who had transferred to the University of Bucharest) he became substitute teacher (temporary) at Iași University for the department of Romanian language, literature and history starting with the school year 1868-1869, department where he would stay for almost 30 years. He was involved in the Romanian political life as a member of the National Liberal Party, being elected by the party as deputy (1879), senator (1885) in the Romanian Parliament, and after the year 1890 he was even the vice-president of the 5 L. Rados, “Studenți și profesori ai Universității din Iași la studii în străinătate (deceniul șapte al secolului XIX) (I)”, in Historia Universitatis Iassiensis, I, 2010, Editura Universității Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Iași, 2010, pp. 90-92; D.V. Andronache, ,,Contribuția lui Andrei Vizanti la dezvoltarea relațiilor culturale româno-spaniole”, in S. L. Damean, M.